322 



THK UNIVERSAL HERBAL 5 



C A L 



style filiform, the length of the stamina blunt. Pericarp : 

 legume oblong, compressed, one-celled. Seeds: few, sub- 

 ovate, compressed fiat. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix : 

 five-parted, the lowest segment longer, and slightly arched. 

 Stamina; woolly at the base. Petals: five. Legume: com- 

 pressed. The plants of this genus are propagated by seeds, 

 which should be sown in small pots filled with light rich 

 earth early in the spring, and plunged into a hot-bed of 

 tanner's bark, observing to shade them from the sun, and 

 Jo water the earth as often as it appears dry ; if the nights 

 should prove cold, the glasses must be covered with mats, 

 to keep the bed in a moderate warmth : in about six weeks 

 the plants will begin to appear, when they must be care- 

 fully cleared from weeds, and frequently refreshed with 

 water : in warm weather the glasses should be raised in the 

 middle of the day to admit fresh air. When the plants are 

 about three inches high, they should be carefully taken out 

 of the pots, and each transplanted into a separate small pot 

 filled with fresh light earth, and plunged into the hot-bed 

 again, observing to water them, and screen them from the 

 heat of the sun, until they have taken new root ; after 

 which time the glasses should be raised every day in pro- 

 portion to the warmth of the weather. In this hot-bed the 

 plants are to remain till autumn, when they should be re- 

 moved to the stove, and plunged into the bark-bed, where 

 they may have room to grow j here they should remain -, 

 and being placed among tender exotics of the same climate, 

 will afford an agreeable variety. The species are, 



1 . Csesalpina Elata. Unarmed : leaflets linear, blunt with 

 a point; corymbs compound ; calices coriaceous, tomentose; 

 petals fringed ; stamina very long. This is a tree, with 

 bipinnate leaves : the flowers are large, yellow ; filamenta 

 very dark purple. Native of India. 



2. Caesalpina Pulcherrima ; Barbadoes Flower Fence. 

 Prickly ; leaflets oblong, oval, emarginate, they and the cali- 

 ces smooth ; corymbs simple ; petals fringed ; stamina very 

 long. It rises with a straight stalk ten or twelve feet high ; it 

 is covered with a smooth gray bark, and is sometimes as 

 thick as the small of a man's leg j it divides into several 

 spreading branches at the top, armed at each joint with two 

 short strong crooked spines. This beautiful plant is a native 

 of both Indies ; it is planted in hedges, to divide the lands in 

 Barbadoes, where it has the name of Flower-Fence ; it is also 

 called Spanish Carnations in some of our islands in the West 

 Indies. Dr. Houstoun has found varieties in the colour of 

 the corolla, some having a red and others a yellow flower 

 in the Spanish West Indies. All parts of this plant are 

 thought to be very powerful emmenagogues, and are fre- 

 quently used for that purpose among the negroes. The 

 Flower-Fence, if care be taken to water and shift the plants 

 as often as it is necessary, will grow three feet high the 

 first season. When they are grown large, care must be 

 taken, when they are shifted into larger pots, not to suffer 

 the ball of earth to fall from the roots. They are very im- 

 patient of moisture in winter, and if damp seizes their top, 

 it very often kills them, or at least occasions the loss of their 

 heads. The beautiful flowers of this shrub appear in Decem- 

 ber here ; but in the West Indies it flowers twice a year. 



3. Caesalpina Sappan ; Narrow-leaved Prickly Brasiletto. 

 Leaflets oblong-oval, unequal-sided, blunt; they and the 

 calixes smooth ; stamina longer than the corolla. This 

 tree is a native of mountains in the Circars. 



4. Caesalpina Pyramida. Unarmed : leaflets oval, quite 

 entire, equilateral ; petals with claws roundish, flat, equal- 

 ling the stamina. This tree is a native of the West Indies. 



5. CeesalpinaCrista, Prickly ; leaflets oval ; racemes simple ; 



petals ovate, shorter than the smooth calix ; stamina longer 

 than the calix. This tree is also a native of the West Indies. 



6. Caesalpina Brasilinesis. Unarmed : leaflets ovate ob- 

 long ; midril pubescent ; calixes tomentose ; stamina 

 shorter than the corolla. Native of the West Indies. 



7. Caesalpina Bijuga. Leaves doubly pinnate, with two 

 pairs of obcordate leaflets ; they and the calixes smooth ; 

 stamina equalling the corrola. This tree is about 15 feet 

 high ; native of Jamaica and ( 'unima. 



8. Caesalpina Coriaria. Leaflets linear ; racemes in form 

 of spikes ; calixes smooth, equalling the corolla 5 stamina 

 longer than the corolla ; legumes curved inwards. An ele- 

 gant tree, growing in salt-marshes in Carthagena., &c. 



Calabash. See Cucurbita and Crescentia. 



Calamint. See Melissa and Meittha. 



Calamus; a genus of the class Hexandria, order Monogy- 

 nia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Calix : perianth six-leaved, 

 permanent; the three outer leaflets shorter, broader; the 

 three inner longer, narrower, acuminate. Corolla : none, ex- 

 cept the calix be so called. Stamina .- filamenta six, capil- 

 lary longer than the calix ; antherae round. Pistil: ger- 

 men roundish, superior ; style trifid, columnar, spiral, fili- 

 form ; stigmas simple. Pericarp : membranous, globular, 

 covered with scales, imbricated backwards, and obtuse ; it is 

 one-celled, at first pulpy, but afterwards juiceless. Seed : 

 one, globular, fleshy. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Calix: six- 

 leaved. Corolla ; none. Berry : dried, one-seeded, imbri- 

 cate backwards. 



1. Calamus Rotang, or Rattan. All the sorts or varieties of 

 the Calamus Rotang, orRattan.have a stem which is perennial, 

 quite simple or unbranched, long, round, unarmed or with- 

 out prickles, solid, jointed, procumbent when unsupported, 

 scandent when near trees, but without any tendrils. The 

 Rattan seems to form the connecting link between the palms 

 and the gramineous plants, having the flower of the former, 

 but the habit of the latter. Loureiro has discriminated six 

 species of Calamus, viz. 1. The Stone Rattan, with a stem as 

 thick as the human arm, and a hundred feet long, used for 

 large spears and halberts. 2. The Cable Rattan : stem more 

 than five hundred feet long and about an inch thick, very 

 tough, used for ships' cables, for ropes to draw great weights, 

 and to tame and fasten wild elephants. 3. The Walking Cane 

 Rattan, with very long, subulate, glossy internodes. It 

 grows abundantly on both sides of the straits of Malacca, 

 whence it is exported into China and Europe. 4. The 

 Genuine Rattan : stem a hundred feet long, yellowish, brown, 

 equal, very flexile, the thickness of a finger. In India the 

 largest cables are made of the stem cut into thongs ; besides 

 all sorts of ropes for fastening the planks of the country 

 vessels and the boarding of houses, in which no nails are 

 used ; and also for tying a variety of utensils, both domestic 

 and rural. 5. The Bitter Rattan : stems sixty-feet long, the 

 thickness of a finger. It is used for the same purposes as 

 the genuine Rattan, but is harder and more durable. 6. The 

 DUECOUS Rattan : stem the thickness of a goose-quill, twenty 

 feet long, very regular and flexile. It is used for weaving, 

 and fastening smaller and nicer utensils. All these are spe- 

 cifically different, for they grow wild in places very remote 

 from each other, where they regularly preserve their peculiar 

 habits and differences. Many others grow in Cochin-china, 

 the straits of Malacca, and other places, which, on an ac- 

 curate examination, may be found to be different both from 

 these and each other. They grow abundantly in the East 

 Indies, by the sides of rivers. Their extreme toughness and 

 pliability render them very useful to the natives, for withs, 

 and almost all the purposes to which we apply ropes. The 



